AN- Just for the record Telaya isn't suppose to be the greatest assassin in the world since she hasn't had any formal training. She like a poser-assassin. :-). Frinker. Also a tiefling is a human-demon and a daemonfey is a Demon-elf… a bit of a difference.
Firilya- Hey, I used the swear word.Actually,I've been using it like crazy… like FRINKING crazy. (Laughs) Oh yeah the spells… they are going to be spectacular but well… it's in the next chapter. (Ducks a fireball at his head) Which franker threw that?
WitchWolf- Telaya isn't like any normal assassin (like most of my characters) and prefers to mess around with her victims… at times she can compose herself and actually seem like a real killer but prefers to screw with people's heads. Personally, I like to snowboard, sail and do anything that I'm not good at, just cause. I don't know the meaning of preservation of one's self so I guess it's a correct statement.
Tasharene- Hugz… I forgot… Writing a lot DOESN'T count… I guess I'll cut down :-), that won't happen. Anyway I was thinking about Punkin never asking about Meris' feelings and I wondered where she delevoped this kind of compassion… I wish there were more girls like her… oh, she's not real… Crap. Lying or silence… I usually start talking about all the facts going through what has, is and could or will happen then I make references to my past experiences similar to this one then… oh you catch the drift… I guess you're right. Amberlee, yep… I've personally been there… and it totally sucks but now I've come to the point of my life where I know everyone is totally screwed up. Anyway, that's all part of Amberlee's naïveté. Man Meris has one screwed up family… it must for him to have such a twisted author. Oh well.
Music- Eye of the Storm by Blindside
CHAPTER 12Telaya didn't have the look of a half-demon… no horns or wings - she looked like a little toothpick girl with a boy's haircut. But she had shown a little bit of unnatural skill; even though it was all too obvious that she had little training in the art of assassination. She was too easy to spot… it was almost as if she had wanted us to find her.
"Meris," she said slowly while she grinned, "Can't concentrate? Too busy checking me out?"
I looked over at my wizard. He was covered in sweat, trying to keep her in his control.
"Let her out," I said, taking out my rapier again, "I'll cut those bug bites right off her chest. She's just a superficial little tramp."
"Takes one to know one," she retorted.
I glared at Meris. He continued to hold her.
"I'll kill her even if you keep that spell on her," I said. He didn't acknowledge the comment.
"What, do you really believe her?" I challenged.
"It's possible…" He said halfheartedly.
"She's a liar… she's trying to get us off guard. Let's take care of our business, okay? We have to do something with her to save Nasher, right?" I said.
"I guess, but…" He sounded beaten.
"No buts… let's kick some butts, alright?" I said as I reached out to touch his arm. "It's three on one."
I looked over at Amberlee who was utterly quiet and looked like she wasn't all there.
Meris dropped his arms and the assassin was free.
I immediately raced over to attack her while she wasn't on guard. I made a sharp slash at her shoulder, which she nimbly dodged. I followed with a quick thrust at her abdomen and she took three lightning-quick backsteps to evade it.
She grinned. "You're pretty good," she said releasing her katana.
Why in the hell did we let her keep it?
Meris fired a column of freezing cold air at her, which knocked her back off balance. I took this opportunity to continue my attack as I cross-slashed back and forth quickly, only to be out maneuvered by the speedy little hell-spawn. She moved with so much grace and speed that I was awestruck and pissed off at the same time. She definitely wasn't from this plane.
"So what the hell do you want with my Meris?" I demanded as I circle-parried a poor hack aimed at my head.
"Your Meris… you make me laugh… like you can control him." She leaped backwards a good ten steps.
Now I had to make up the ground… this fight wasn't going the way I though it would.
"Why do you retreat so much?" I asked as I ran forward, only for her to leap up into the trees.
"I like to see my prey run after me… I like to mess with your eyes. Everyone wants to kill an assassin and I like for you to think you can," she teased and popped up behind Amberlee, who was still deep in her own thoughts. Tela raised her blade, which was now dripping with some type of green liquid… I was guessing it was poison. Damn assassins.
"AMBERLEE!" But I was to late - the fleeting image of Tela's blade slicing into the back of Amberlee flashed in the night air. I watched it as if it was all in slow motion. "You…you piece of…"
"What?" she said with a long grin on her face as she licked her blade, "You don't like seeing your friends getting chopped up… well, don't worry I'll take care of you next."
Meris, still exhausted, started casting protective spells on me and himself. I hoped he had something to repel poison.
"Punkin," he said, "the wise are still, remember."
"Huh," I murmured as I looked back at him and I quickly smelled the brown haired harpy. I ducked a diving attack at me. If she didn't have wings she had the next best thing. This sucked. I never lose fights and now I was having my butt kicked by a novice.
"I can't wait for Meris to see you bleeding," Tela said as she stood up from her attack, "I want him to weep and cry and feel the pain of death… it's what he needs."
"The only person that's going to die is you," I said and ran to her but with less speed than before. I needed to find openings instead of trying to make them. Telaya took the bait as I closed in. She thought I was wearing down and made a quick swipe at me with her green edged katana. I leaped over the attack and kicked her dead in the face.
"I hope I didn't hurt your little nose…" I offered as I landed and readied myself for another attack. I ran my blade into her shoulder before she could think twice. "Like that," I said taking a step back to catch my breath.
She ran her fingers into her wound and liked it, "I have had worse wounds from sewer rats. I takes more than a little scratch for real warriors to fall."
Meris began chanting his fireball spell… I wasn't proficient in spell-crafting as I should have been but I heard that spell a million times and I knew it meant to get the hell out of the way.
The ball of incineration came at her with the force of an avalanche… quick and unrelenting. The assassin crossed her arms as it made its impact on her.
"Farethewell," I said, waving at the massive orange burst.
A dark figure moved out of the chaos… what the hell was she made of? Without any sign of distress from the painful blast, she came at me with even more speed than before. She aimed an attack at my legs, which I leaped over. Then, as I was in mid-air, she swung her dark blade at my chest. I swiftly blocked it with my rapier but lost my balance and stumbled as I hit the ground.
With no breath in between she continued her assault. I rolled out of the way, letting her stab her katana into the ground… all the way to the hilt. With uncanny strength she drew the sword out of the ground as if it was just in a scabbard. I was guessing that she was really pissed off now.
I could hear Meris heaving for air… he must have been extremely exhausted after all the spell casting but he still had another spell in him. I hoped that it would turn the tide of the battle.
"Meris," I said. "You can do it… just one more spell…" I dodged another attack, "I have faith in you."
Meris closed his eyes to focus again and began to chant another spell.
I leaped out of the way of another slash of the assassin's blade. I wish I could have known how Amberlee was doing… I hoped she wasn't… gone.
In the flash of a moment, a swarm of magical balls shot out of Meris' hands and landed one after another into the back of Telaya. She fell to the ground and was quickly followed by Meris. I took this opportunity to grab the sword from her hand and tossed it away further than my eyes could see.
"I'll… still… beat… you…" she said on her hands and knees. I kicked her in the chest with my hard tipped purple boots… I knew they'd come in handy. She coughed out a small amount of blood.
"What the hell did you do to Amberlee?" I asked as I put my foot into the chest of the assassin.
"I… did… what… I… was… paid… to… do," she said. I kicked her in the head. "Is it poison?"
"…Duh…" she said, trying to swat my foot away. I kicked her again, this time in the temple.
"I want the antidote."
"… Ain't… one…" she said, grabbing my foot. I pulled it away from her and kicked her hand. Her other hand went into her boot. I quickly dove to intercept it from going in. It didn't work.
As I landed on top of her I felt her dagger plunge into my stomach. I did the only thing I could and rolled as far away from her as I could, pulling out a potion from my pack.
"Hell… no… you… die," she said as she threw the dagger, splattering the healing liquid all over my face. She pulled out her other dagger and got to her knees.
I tried to get up and get away but I couldn't… I didn't have enough strength. I saw her figure over me, with her blade shining in the sky and I prepared for the inevitable. She brought the dagger down… as in slow motion again… I saw every move. She wasn't going to miss… but she did.
"Get back," Amberlee told her as she swung her sword again to knock the dagger away from the assassin's hand.
"…You're… I… poisoned…" Telaya tried to figure out what was going on… I had to admit I was just as curious.
"I have a high tolerance from poison… adventurer's kids tend to. Now," Amberlee said as she held the sword with two hands. "It's time for you to pay for your crimes against Neverwinter."
Where did I hear that before? Aribeth, perhaps.
"… I… won't… die here?" she said and threw a pink potion at Amberlee. She swung her longsword at it and a huge pink fog exploded from the impact.
I held my breath… I knew that no one should ever breath in anything from an assassin bag… it would be suicide. Amberlee, who had undoubtedly saved my life, fell to the ground again. I swallowed a quick potion and got up. The potion didn't help much. I was still in pain but I managed to run over to Amberlee and pulled her out of the fog.
I took a quick breath which sent pain into my wound and I made my way back in to get Meris. I reached for him and saw her shadowed figure over him. She pushed me back and grabbed him.
Was Meris what she was after?
I grabbed a handful of dirt and tossed it into her face. Then I grabbed my rapier and ran it into her side. Obviously she got the message for she took off into the trees. I hoped against everything that I would never see her again.
XOXOXO"Meris," I said slapping him gently on the face. "Are you okay?"
Meris blinked. "I think so…"
"Alright… now let's talk about your payment to me for saving your life."
"What?"
"I could have just let that girl kill you… I think she left me her card. I can track her down," I said with a grin. "I want a kiss." I grabbed him and gave him a long, appreciative kiss.
As we finished up he asked, "Is Amberlee okay?"
"I patched her up… she'll be fine, but she inhaled a lot of Telaya's gas…"
"I'm not sure if I want to know," Meris said as he sat up. "So, what do we do next?"
"Save Nasher, of course… you up to it?" I asked as I stood up revealing the break in my leather armor from the near-deadly wound.
"Did… she do that?" he asked.
"Yep, but I took care of her."
"You killed her."
"Her spirit - yes… her body… not yet," I said. "You should rest up… we got a big fight ahead of us… I can smell it."
I think I've stayed for the last time, goodbye
Hope is so much closer to beauty than sorrow
I think I'll leave and leave self pity to die
Reflection is always brighter than shadow
Please come closer
Cause I don't even touch you anymore
Please see I'm walking in to the eye of the storm
And I'll still come out loving you even more
Love is in the air tonight
So just breathe
You made sure the atmosphere was thick tonight
So this is where it begins and where it ends
With a crack in a dark sky piercing light
Please come closer
Cause my heart doesn't touch yours anymore
Please see I'm walking into the eye of the storm
And I'll still come out loving you even more
Love is in the air tonight so just breathe
Breathe my spirit breathe
Love is in the air tonight so just breathe
Breathe my spirit breathe
leave, leave now and don't look back
leave, leave now and don't you look back
Please come closer
Cause I don't even touch you anymore
Please see I'm walking in to the eye of the storm
And I'll still come out loving you even more
Please come closer
Cause my heart doesn't touch yours anymore
Please see I'm walking in to the eye of the storm
And I'll still come out loving you even more